The Jungle Book

Rudyard Kipling, the author of the “The Jungle Book” was a good friend of Robert Baden Powell (BP – Founder of Scouting) . When, in 1916, BP started the Cub Section (then known as Wolf Cubs) he asked Kipling if he could use one of the stories in his book. It was called “Mowgli’s Brothers.” We know it as “The Story of Akela and Mowgli.”

Each of the Leaders within our Cub Pack take their names from “The Jungle Book” – Can you name them all?

Below is a short story.

It was a warm summers night and Tabaqui, the jackal – who was a sly mischief maker – crept into a cave of the mother and father wolf.

“Shere Khan, the tiger, has moved his hunting grounds. He is going to hunt amongst these hills” he told them.

Father wolf was very upset, because he know that Shere Khan was not very nice and he had killed other animals and made the villagers cross, and caused a lot of trouble in the jungle.

As they listened they could here in the distance the sounds of that evil tiger coming towards them.

“He is hunting man!” said Raksha, the Mother wolf. ” He is getting closer, why does he head this way?”

Father wolf crouched down and got ready to leap at the tiger and protect Raksha. “Listen – something is coming it must be him!”

Just before Father wolf jumped out of the cave he stopped.

“Man” he shouted! “It’s a man cub – look!” His jaws closed very carefully over the little boys back and he carried him into the cave and placed him in the middle of his young family – the wolf cubs.

Without anymore warning a dark shadow crossed the doorway. “The man cub is mine, give him to me!” roared the tiger -Shere Khan. But Raksha did not want to give up the man cub to Shere Khan so he crept away.

Raksha looked at the little boy sleeping. He looked so peaceful. “We must give him a name ” said Father Wolf.

“I will call the little one ‘Mowgli’, the frog” said Rashka, “because his skin is smooth and without fur like a frog.”

So Mowgli stayed with Rashka and Father wolf and their own four cubs, when they were old enough to run a little they set off one night when their was a full moon, through the Jungle to the Council Circle, where the wolves lookie over the young cubs so they would know them if they met in the Jungle.

Then Shere Khan roared from the trees “Why have you a man cub in the pack?”

Akela, the leader of the pack, reminded the wolves that if there was an argument about a cub two people would have to speak for him. So Baloo, the Brown Bear stood up and said “I will speak for the man cub.”

Then, a black shadow dropped from the trees. It was the mighty hunter Bagheera, the black Panther. “I have a newly killed bull to give you to save the cub’s life.” he said.

And that is how Mowgli was accepted as a member of the Pack, at the price of a bull and on Baloo’s good word. Mowgli then learned the laws of the jungle from old Baloo, and how to creep, stalk and hunt from Bagheera.

A lot of the ceremonies and names of Leaders in Cub Scouting are taken from the jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling… You may have read the book or watched the Walt Disney Film. If not see if you can borrow it off somebody or from the library and get to know the characters in the story.

The Cub Scout leader is called ‘Akela’ and other leaders from the pack will each have an name from the book.